The Bodyguard's Tale
by What a Rubber Chicken
Summary: Keithyr, son of Emperor Zarkon, has been given a choice: either become Commander Sendak's new lieutenant, or go to Altea and become a bodyguard to the younger brother of the crown princess. It's no surprise that Keith chooses life. And even if Prince Lanceon might throw a few more surprises at him, what's really surprising is how much fun Keith is having! (Klance AU)
1. Chapter 1

**The Bodyguard's Tale**

**Chapter 1**

Keith stared up at the tall, white towers of the Altean palace and tried not to wince. It was so different from what he was used to on Daibazaal! The colors, the shapes, _the sounds!_ Back home, there had been noise and chaos, yes, but it seemed so much… _more organized_ than this! There, it was orders being shouted and the ring of blade on blade. Here, people were calling out to each other eagerly, children laughing everywhere—he swore he even heard music coming from somewhere! (You never heard music on Daibazaal unless it was a feast day!)

"Well, this'll be an adventure, huh?" Shiro said cheerfully, coming up beside him.

Keith rolled his eyes at the Champion. Shiro had been a prisoner in the arena before his fighting prowess had been recognized and he'd been granted his freedom as a prize. Above all, the Galra valued strength, and Takashi Shirogane had it in spades. Since then, he'd become an "ambassador" for his home planet, Earth, which Sendak had conquered on a whim a few years back. Shiro didn't really have much to do as an ambassador, Earth was still conquered, but the title allowed him to sit in on meetings and not be forced back into the fighting pits.

He was probably elated to get away from Daibazaal for the foreseeable future.

Sure enough, he laughed at Keith's droll expression and slapped the young prince on the back. "It could be worse," he pointed out.

"Yes, my _great choice_," Keith drawled, looking around this new world with poorly-disguised contempt. "Either become the servant to some jumped-up peacock with royal Altean blood, or become Sendak's new chewtoy until he decides I need to have an 'accident.' Yay, me."

"Hey, I've heard this Altean prince is pretty nice," Shiro said, showing a bit more sympathy as they entered the palace. "At least he's your age." Keith shrugged. "And you won't be his servant, you'll be part of his personal guard."

"Same difference," Keith muttered.

"We both know he can't possibly treat you worse than Sendak would've," Shiro added.

That was for damn sure. Keith wasn't sure why Emperor Zarkon hadn't just signed his execution warrant. Instead, he'd offered his younger son a choice: become Commander Sendak's new lieutenant or go to Altea with his half-brother Lotor, where he would become a young Altean prince's new bodyguard while Lotor attempted to solidfy their alliance by marrying the Crown Princess Allura. And since Commander Sendak had gone through eight lieutenants in the past two years, it had been an easy decision to make. At least on Altea, Keith would live. Shiro's appointment to the same planet had been a great relief, though. Keith had no idea how to relate to these people. Lotor was half-Altean, and he and Keith couldn't stand each other.

Hopefully his half-brother would be busy paying court to the Altean princess. With any luck, their meetings would be few and far between.

"Game-faces time," Shiro whispered as they entered the court. It was a huge room with lofty high ceilings and an overall feeling of light and magic. Big difference from anything he was used to on Daibazaal. Still, one thing was the same; people everywhere were looking at him expectantly. Keith carefully schooled his expression into the blank mask he'd been taught from childhood.

"Announcing Prince Keithyr of the Galra Empire and Champion Takashi Shirogane, Ambassador of Earth!"

Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his formal title. Prince? Sure. _Unwanted_ prince. At least they weren't trying to call him Yorak anymore.

He was a bit surprised at the murmurs and side-long glances people gave to Shiro when his prosthesis came into view. Apparently, the Alteans didn't value strength and fighting nearly as much as the Galra did. Shiro might not fit in here as much as he thought he would.

"Beloved baby brother!" Lotor greeted, coming down from the dais to embrace Keith. They both remained stiff, but avoided snarling or growling at each other in public. Keith gave him a fake smile and a nod as they pulled apart.

"Allow me to introduce my intended, Princess Allura." Lotor said gaily, indicating the Altean royal family. A young woman with long, flowing, curly white hair descended, smiling at them. Keith and Shiro quickly bowed.

"It's so good to finally meet you, Keithyr," she said, holding out her hand for Keith to kiss. "Lotor's told me so much about you!"

_Yeah, I can very well imagine what Lotor has told you…. _Keith performed a perfunctory salute on her hand and gave her a smile.

"I've heard many good things about you too, princess," he said politely.

She beamed at him. "And this, of course, is my brother Lanceon," she said, waving him forward.

Keith studied his new charge carefully. He'd seen pictures, of course, but it was always best to get the measure of a man in person. He did a quick inventory. Short brown hair, glowing blue cheek markings (those might make it hard to hide in the dark if they had to make a quick getaway sometime) tall, lanky, a casual air about him that said he didn't really care to be here—

"He's shorter than I thought he'd be!" the prince's aloof air suddenly melted away as soon as he saw Keith, and he bounded forward to get a better look. Keith shied back instinctively as piercing blue eyes roamed all over him. "Aww, I thought he'd be blue! Or at least, ya know, purple," Lanceon whined. "He's not even fluffy!"

Keith felt his eye twitch. "Sorry I'm not _fluffy_ enough for his highness," he growled under his breath. Beside him, Shiro covered up a laugh with a cough.

"My apologies, Prince Lance," Lotor also appeared to be hiding his mirth at Keith's discomfort. "Keithyr is only half Galra and doesn't share all of the traits—"

"Like you?" Lanceon interrupted, looking over at Lotor with a sweet smile. "You're only half Galra too."

"Indeed," Lotor said, his eye barely twitching. Keith noted it down. _Aha! It seemed there was some tension between his brother and the resident prince._ "But Keithyr is half human," Lotor said, recovering quickly, "the species of Ambassador Shirogane there." He indicated where Shiro stood. Lance latched onto him immediately.

"Hi! I'm Lance!" he said cheerfully, shaking Shiro's hand.

"Shiro," the man said, amused.

"Man, he wasn't kidding," Lance said looking between Shiro and Keith. "Are you sure _you two_ aren't the real brothers instead of Lotor there?"

_Don't I wish,_ Keith thought silently, as Shiro and Lance chatted amicably. _I would gladly take Shiro for a brother over Lotor any day! _He tried to stomp down his growing resentment of the prince. _I didn't get a handshake, or an introduction…._

"Lance, why don't we let Ambassador Shirogane introduce himself to the court," Princess Allura finally interjected. "You can go acquaint yourself with your new guard."

"Fine, fine," Lance said carelessly, leaving the court and obviously expecting to be followed.

Keith gave one last bow to the royal family (guess he wasn't important enough to be introduced to the king or queen, but that was just fine with him, he already knew his duties), exchanged an eye-roll with Shiro, and hurried after him.

He wasn't surprised to see Lance whirl on him as soon as they reached a bedroom that obviously belonged to him, and Keith carefully closed the door behind him before the other prince could explode.

"Let's get one thing straight," Lance snapped, "I don't need a babysitter!"

"No, you need a cleaning lady," Keith said, looking around. There were clothes and bottles of various liquids thrown haphazardly around the room. He even caught sight of a boot on a lamp. _What a mess!_ He'd have been whipped if Dayak ever caught his quarters in this state!

"It's fine, you can walk through it!" Lance said, dismissing it as easily as everything else.

"It's a health hazard," Keith argued, noting all the places where ingenious spies or assassins could be hiding in plain sight. "And it's my job to keep you safe." Lance opened his mouth, but Keith beat him to it. "But it's NOT my job to clean up after you."

Lance scowled. "Fine, I'll clean it later. The point is," he said, launching into another rant, "I don't like Lotor or his heavy-handed ways, giving me a bodyguard who I've never even met!"

"What, you think I _want_ to be here?!" Keith asked incredulously. "You think I _like_ the idea of following you around for the foreseeable future?! It was either this or be stuck as Sendak's punching bag until enough people forgot about me for me to 'disappear.'" He stepped closer, daring to get in Lance's face. "Whether you like it or not, we're stuck with each other. So, let's just hope my stupid brother charms your sister enough so we can make this alliance official already, and maybe they'll let us go back to our regular lives!"

Lance blinked and took a step back, studying Keith in a new light.

"You don't like Lotor, do you?"

Keith stared at the young prince. "Are you actually this stupid, or are you just pretending?"

"I—I am not stupid!" Lance sputtered. "At least I don't have a stupid mullet!"

"Really?" Keith said dryly. "You're comparing intelligence to hairstyles?"

"It looks stupid! _You're_ stupid!"

Keith felt the beginning of a headache come on. "Oh, this is gonna be a _long_ mission…."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Keith could tell that Lance had been intending to give him the silent treatment for the next few days. The problem? Keith was always around him now, and Prince Lanceon had the patience of a small child.

"Keithyr, I'm bored," he whined, five minutes after he'd picked up a book to read.

"You could always clean your room," Keith suggested, sharpening his knife. He'd already patiently refused to become the prince's cleaning servant, despite Lance's whining. He knew his duties. He'd done a perimeter check and acquainted himself with most of the prince's associates and possessions (and why ANYONE would need that many face creams was beyond him….), so he considered himself pretty much caught up as far as bodyguard duty went. For now.

"And my name is Keith, not Keithyr."

"Really?" Lance sat up, looking interested. "But… you were introduced—"

"By Lotor," Keith pointed out. "Who we both agree is a jerk."

Lance snorted in agreement and flopped back down on his bed. "I don't know what Allura sees in him…."

"The same thing everyone else sees," Keith sighed, putting away his knife. If he sharpened it anymore, he'd start to weaken the blade. "His charm and charisma."

"So… your real name is Keith?"

"It's what my mother named me," Keith explained. "According to Galra custom, mothers are the ones who ultimately decide the name of their child, even with slaves. My father didn't like it and tried to name me Yorak instead—hey, stop laughing—but his courtiers and advisers protested, because that was apparently the name of some famous general, and I didn't deserve it since I was just a half-breed—seriously, stop it, it's not that funny—so they stuck on another syllable to the name my mom picked to make it sound more dignified. Are you done laughing yet?"

"Sure, _Yorak_," Lance chortled, still clutching his stomach. "Oh man, and here I thought you were just trying to be cool like me and shorten your name!"

Keith scoffed. Lance wasn't exactly his description of 'cool.'

"What about you? Did they just try to tack on some more letters to make you sound noble too?"

"Nah, Lanceon means 'everlasting light' or something in the old language," Lance said, running his fingers through his hair. _It looked relaxing when he did that…._ "My mom picked it too."

Keith snorted, but didn't laugh. At least Lance knew the meaning of his name. _He'd_ never even set foot on Earth, much less studied any of the languages. All he knew was that his mother had been a human.

"You know what, we need to get outta here! Get the blood flowing!" Lance said, jumping up and stretching.

"Where do you want to go?" Keith asked, also standing and mentally preparing list in his head. He'd have to contact the head of household, the castle guards, probably someone from the space port—

"Have you ever ridden a narwhal?"

"Have I ever WHAT?" Keith asked, flabbergasted.

Lance grinned.

* * *

A narwhal, it turned out, was a giant fish with a sword on its nose. Lance tried to explain how it wasn't a fish, it was a mammal, that wasn't a sword, it was a tooth, blah blah blah, but honestly, Keith tuned him out the moment he laid eyes on the huge beasts. His mind swam as he tried to figure out why _anyone_ would want to _ride_ one of these—and then Lance was in the water and Keith had his hands full, trying to keep his charge from being impaled or drowned, and yelling out instructions and orders that Lance gleefully ignored.

The result? Two sopping wet princes, panting and exhausted several hours later.

They had actually managed to ride a narwhal for a grand total of less than a minute. Roping them, _that_ Keith could do, but then these suckers _dove_. As an Altean, Lance could change his body to include gills, but Keith didn't have that option. He'd almost drowned before Lance realized what had happened and cut them both loose.

"You're insane!" Keith gasped, coughing up more water and so, so happy to be back on solid ground. "You're certifiably insane!"

Lance laughed. "Oh, relax, mullet head! If you'd drowned, I could just resuscitate you!" He made kissy motions in Keith's direction.

"If you _ever_ put your mouth on mine, I will gut you," Keith growled, ignoring the rising heat in his cheeks.

Lance just laughed again.

"Man, I can't believe we actually got one!" he said, looking out across the ocean. "This calls for a celebratory drink!"

* * *

Lance's idea of a celebratory drink was, of course, to go to the local tavern, get completely smashed, and try to pick up women with increasingly bad lines.

"Hey baby, if I were a fish, I'd be hooked on you!"

Keith facepalmed and sternly reminded himself that someone needed to remain sober, so no, he couldn't order another drink. He groaned in despair. Lance plopped down in the seat next to him, a handprint still red against his cheek.

"Aren't you supposed to protect me from all harm?" the prince complained, pointing at it.

"Mmm, I was sure you had her, your grace," Keith said mockingly.

"Wha—Keith, I can't hit a woman! It goes against my honor as a prince!"

"Then what was _I_ supposed to do?" Keith asked dryly.

Lance stared at him blankly for a moment. "I don—ugh, I keep forgetting you're a prince too!" he groaned. "Keithy-boy, why don't you act like a prince?"

"Because I wasn't raised like one," Keith said, rolling his eyes. His current position should be evidence enough of _that_!

"I bet it's cause you think you're better than me," Lance said, his words starting to slur more and more. _Time to cut him off,_ Keith thought, surreptitiously removing Lance's cup from the table. _Aww, he was cute when he pouted!_ "I bet you think you're such a better prince than me, you could get any girl here you want!"

_I don't want any of these girls,_ Keith thought to himself, raising an eyebrow at his charge_. But still, this might work in my favor._

"How about a bet then?" he said out loud, giving Lance a cocky smirk. "If I can get one of these girls to give me her number, you have to go home for the night."

Lance was too drunk to realize he was being played and readily agreed. It took Keith less than a minute to quietly explain to the party of girls that if they gave him some slips of paper with a fake comm ID on it, he could get rid of the annoying drunk guy at the bar. They agreed gladly, but a few gave him a wink and suggested that the numbers might be real if he actually wanted to give them a call.

He would never understand women.

_Of course not,_ a snide little voice in the back of his head muttered, _you're much too busy looking at the pretty prince you're supposed to be protecting…._

Keith firmly decided to lock _that_ particular voice deep, deep into his subconscious where it would never see the light of day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Lance's next excursion wasn't any better; he somehow got it into his head that he wanted to try hunting ducat. Whatever _that_ was. Apparently, some guy named Coran told him all about them and where to find them. However, after a full day of tromping through the Altean jungle, he and Keith didn't find anything. And when a tired, muddy, bedraggled Keith asked Shiro about it later, the man had laughed and suggested snipe hunting instead.

He was fairly certain they were being played. So was Lance.

In retaliation, Lance convinced him to help with a little prank. Somehow, the Altean prince had gotten ahold of a couple-dozen half-feral klanmüirls. Keith, openly shaking his head and secretly snickering for the sheer _brilliance_ of it, had the task of putting a collar on each one that clearly stated that the beast was one of 25. There were only 24 klanmüirls. Then they set them loose in the Grand Hall, just before the High Council was called into session.

Keith had never seen such mayhem.

It was _glorious_.

Uptight lords ran around, panicking, yelling, and trying to catch the stray animals; women were screaming shrilly as several beasts mistook their shiny jewelry for a snack—Lotor had a huge one chasing him that was sure his hair was something edible—even Shiro's calmer efforts to corral them was hilarious in its own way.

Keith and Lance were literally unable to stand, they were laughing so hard.

Unfortunately, their fun came to an end when Allura caught them hiding behind some draperies. Keith thought for sure they were doomed, but in exchange for her silence, the princess decided to have a bit of her own fun instead.

The next day, Lance and Keith looked at each other miserably as they were forced to try on dress after dress for the princess's amusement. (She did not, as a small mercy, make them leave her quarters in the dresses, which Keith was eternally grateful for.)

"Does this one make my butt look big?" Lance asked, looking in the mirror while his sister was off trying to find accessories for them. The apparent reasoning behind this whole fiasco was that she wanted to see how different outfits looked side-by-side.

_Why she couldn't use her own ladies…._

"I don't think you have the hips for it," a voice by the door laughed before Keith could reply. They both whirled around to see Shiro standing there, snickering. "Or the chest!"

"What are _you_ doing here?!" Keith hissed, attempting to cover himself with another dress. Embarrassing himself in front of his best friend was _not_ in the job description!

"Ah, Shiro! You have those documents I needed signed?" Allura said, handing her brother some jewelry as she crossed the room to the ambassador. Keith narrowed his eyes at her. _So, she'd arranged this, the scheming little—_

"Right here, princess," Shiro said cheerfully, handing her some forms. "And I—uh, love your new models."

Keith growled and Lance freed a hand long enough to give Shiro a rude hand gesture.

"Aww, did Lotor not come with you?" Allura pouted, looking behind the ambassador. Keith gaped at her in horror. _His brother? Seeing him like this?! She was EVIL!_

"Unfortunately, Prince Lotor had some _pressing_ _business_ to take care of," Shiro said, grimacing. Keith snorted. Undoubtedly, his brother simply hadn't seen how a visit to see his betrothed would benefit him and had brushed off Allura's invitation. "He swears he'll make it up to you later." Shiro glanced at the two boys again, and barely hid his laughter behind his hand.

"Of course, if he'd known what was waiting for him, I'm sure he'd have come," he added, grinning at Keith.

"Don't you _dare_ tell him!" Keith hissed, trying to wiggle out of his dress to go threaten Shiro properly.

"And now, Princess, I have some _pressing business_ of my own… That's a good color on you, Keith!"

"Shiro! Get back here!" Keith yelled, struggling harder. He ended up stumbling around and crashing into Lance, who yelped when they went down in a pile of limbs.

"Ow, mullet-head!"

"Shut up and get off me!"

"Excuse you! _You're_ the one on _me_!" Lance shouted.

"Move your leg!"

"Hey, watch the heel! Watch the heel!"

"WHY are you wearing heels, Lance?" Keith asked, completely exasperated and still tangled up on the floor in what could be considered a _very_ compromising position.

"Hey, if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it _right_!" The Altean prince had the nerve to _pose_.

"Ugh, you idiot!"

"Oh yeah? I'm not the one who—OOF!" Lance groaned. Keith winced. He'd accidently kneed the other boy in the stomach.

"Sorry."

"You Galra, always so violent!" Lance cried dramatically, throwing a hand over his eyes for effect. "Sister-dear, did you see how he brutalized me?!"

"My poor brother," Allura gushed, joining in the drama effortlessly. "You must be traumatized! Facial masks for both of you!"

Lance cheered. Keith suppressed his urge to bang his head on the floor. The royal siblings were two of a kind, and a royal pain in his—

"C'mon, Keith, let's get you exfoliated!"

_Quiznak._

* * *

The next few weeks were more of the same. Lance got into more bar fights (which Keith had to step in and defend him for, even if the prince had a pretty good right hook himself) and attempted to learn how to play some sort of wind instrument (Keith chucked it out the window after the third day and claimed it must be in Lance's messy room somewhere. Win-win for him; Lance had to clean his room, finally, and Keith was no longer subjected to the sound of a dying cat).

The best times were when Lance decided to hang out with Allura, usually studying spellcasting or playing Monsters and Mana. (Keith decided to forgive her for the dress debacle, since those few hours were the most peace he had these days. Still, he swore Lance cheated at that game, there was no way anyone could roll that many Natural 20s.)

Lance also attempted to learn how to use a sword, which Keith had to help him with. The prince was surprisingly light on his feet, but he was no match for Keith's strength, even if he was Altean. Still, he was stubborn, and those practice matches were very enjoyable for Keith. _Especially the way Lance's eyes would sparkle every time he learned a new move or managed to land a hit…._

_NOPE! Nope. That was just the adrenaline talking. Keith loved the adrenaline rush. That was all._

Finally, the king and queen deemed Lance worthy of representing Altea on another world. Keith was apprehensive until he found out the mission wasn't going to take long; it was just a festival that the locals called Clear Day. Shiro even offered to accompany them and make sure Lance didn't get into too much trouble.

Keith regretted it the moment they touched down. So many _lights_ and _noises_ and _smells_—

"It's a carnival," Shiro exclaimed softly, his eyes wide. "We used to have them on Earth all the time!"

"Really?" Keith asked, interested in learning more about that part of himself. And honestly, watching Shiro was easier on his eyes than all these _flashing lights_….

"Hey, where'd Lance go?" Shiro suddenly asked.

Keith spun around, looking for the prince who had just been at his side.

"QUIZNAK!"

They searched for nearly an hour before they found him at the shooting games, entertaining several females with his ability to get them some cheap little stuffed animals.

"Lance!" Keith roared. "You know you're not supposed to go off on your own!"

Lance took one look at the rage on his face and, to Keith's astonishment, he ran. _What the quiznak?! Where did he think—?_

"Get back here!" he yelled after the wayward prince, only vaguely aware of Shiro laughing behind him as he chased the other boy. Shiro could laugh, but it was going to be Keith's ass if something happened to the prince!

Lance was darting left and right, trying to lose him in the crowd, but Keith was quicker. He tackled Lance right into a line of people. Keith pulled them both to their feet, and was about to start laying into the Altean when—

"Fine, fine, you can go first," a bored, nasally voice said. The next thing they knew, they had been strapped into a ride and told to have a "blissfully burrowful time."

All Keith could do was glare at Lance, which intensified when the animatronics all around them began to sing. Lance looked interested (for all of two tiks) and then he chanced a glance at his bodyguard.

"Just remember, if you kill me, you fail your mission," he sang, grinning sheepishly.

"I remind myself that every day."

The ride broke, right when they were in the middle of it. Keith groaned in despair and buried his face in his hands.

It took him less than five minutes to get fed up with the idiotic song and slash his way to freedom, dragging a laughing Lance behind him. The prince promised to pay for damages to the irate carny, but also pointed out that the ride had already been broken. Then Keith chimed in about how it could've been a trap to harm Lance's royal person, blah-de-blah, and the worker quickly let them go with hasty apology for their troubles.

They were never coming back to Clear Day. Keith would beg Lance's other bodyguards _on his knees_ if he had to.

Now, they couldn't find Shiro.

Some of the locals said something about a human being in the arm-wrestling tournament, but to get there, they had to pass the shooting games again. And of course, Lance wheedled and whined until Keith finally gave in and stopped to let him play for awhile.

It wasn't like he was actually going to win anything… those things were totally rigged.

So, when Lance presented him with a stuffed red lion, Keith took it out of sheer disbelief—and ignored his flaming cheeks.

It was just to say sorry for that whole ride debacle. It's not like it meant anything. Besides, they were both quickly distracted by the fact that Shiro was now the center of a cheering crowd of fans.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Keith felt awful. His head hurt, his neck hurt—hell, his whole body hurt. Plus, he had a fever. He'd already called Lance's former bodyguard captain, and fortunately, Hunk was very understanding and agreed to take over Keith's watch.

Which was good, because Keith wasn't sure he could move right now.

Not that it stopped Lance.

"Hey! Mullet! Why are you still in bed?!" he yelled, entering the room without so much as a knock.

"Lance, wait! I told you, he's sick!" Hunk was whispering, trying to pull the prince away.

"No, he's not! He's Galra! They never get sick! He's just faking it so you can't go to that fancy cooking competition you were telling me about."

"Lance, seriously?" Hunk exclaimed, still trying to be quiet. "I doubt Keith even _knows_ about that, much less made himself sick just to spite me!"

"We'll see about that!" Lance said, glaring down at his bodyguard, who was currently cocooned in his blankets. "Mullet! Are you dying?!" He cocked his head as Keith stared blearily up at him.

_Maybe,_ Keith thought. He sure felt like it. Death would even be a mercy at this point. _Surely the universe could do him a favor just this once, right?_ Lance got right up in his face, so Keith had to cross his eyes to see him. _Ugh. That didn't make him feel better..._

"Then again, you don't look very good, Keithy-boy."

_Oh, no, you think? Gods, my stomach hurts…._

"Lance," he groaned, surprising himself with how scratchy his voice sounded. "Go away."

Lance blinked at him and finally allowed Hunk to shoo him out of the room, the big guard muttering apologies to Keith the whole time. Keith made a mental note to apologize to Hunk too. He hadn't heard about a cooking competition, but he did know it was a beloved hobby for the other guard….

He fell asleep before he could think anymore.

And woke up to something poking his cheek.

"I'm telling you, Coran, I've never seen him like this before!" Lance was exclaiming, way too loudly.

Something poked his cheek again. Keith growled and attempted to burrow further into his blankets. _He DID NOT FEEL GOOD! Did they not _get_ that memo? Why was Lance here again?!_

"Welp, judging from these pheromone levels, I can tell you that he hasn't got anything contagious, at least," this Coran person said.

Keith was still annoyed, but felt a bit of relief. At least now he knew Lance couldn't catch whatever-this-was by continually barging in here. Lance would be the _biggest_ baby if he ever got sick—and Keith would have to take care of him!

"He's just going into heat."

"WHAT?!"

Keith wasn't sure who screamed louder, him or Lance. He sat up, feeling instantly dizzy, but very aware that there was a man with a huge orange mustache peering at him—waaay too close into his personal space!

"I—I am not in _heat_!" he sputtered.

"Oh, a rut then?" Coran said, glancing down Keith's body. Keith felt his face go bright red and pulled his covers closer. If this man tried to peek under his blankets, he was going to be missing an arm! "You're a bit small for an alpha… might be because you're a half-breed—"

"Who are you?!" Keith asked, very, _very_ offended now.

"Ah," the mustachioed man said, standing up straight, "I am Kórann Hieronymus Wimble—"

"Are you a doctor?" Keith interrupted, really not caring.

Coran pouted. "Well, not exactly…. Perhaps if we contact Prince Lotor, he can—"

"NO!" Keith didn't know if it was the hormones of whatever-this-was or what, but the idea of seeing Lotor right now…. He either wanted to kill something or vomit. Possibly both.

"Coran, maybe we should just let Keith get some sleep," Lance suggested quietly, staring at his bodyguard.

"Yes, yes, nothing to do but wait it out I'm afraid," Coran agreed. "Don't worry, you'll have your usual bodyguard back in a few days, your grace." He clapped the prince on the back and led him out of the room.

Keith watched the door close behind them and flopped back down on his bed, suddenly drained of energy.

Great. Just great. He'd _presented_! And much later than anyone had ever thought he would! No wonder he felt like he'd just spent a day on the training deck with Kolivan!

He woke up to someone humming a lullaby and gently stroking his hair. The touch was slow and soothing, and it made his stomach stop churning for a moment. It felt _good_. And the dip of the bed and the solid warmth at his side felt extra good. Maybe he should invest in a heating pad?

"…softer than I thought," he heard the person beside him mumble as their fingers ran through his hair. He couldn't resist snorting in laughter, now knowing exactly who was in the room with him.

"Despite what you may think, I do wash regularly," he said, laughing a bit when Lance startled.

"Oh hey, Keithy-boy! How long have you been awake?" Lance asked, chuckling nervously.

Keith felt his suspicion flare. "Why? What did you do to me while you thought I was asleep?" he asked.

"Nothing!"

"Lance," Keith groaned, rolling over so he could properly face the Altean prince currently sitting on the edge of his bed. "No offense, but you are a terrible liar, _your grace._" He stressed the title mockingly.

"I just came to see how you were doing!" Lance exclaimed. "And because, ya know, I saw Coran talking to Lotor earlier, and I don't _think_ he'd go behind my back like that, but I wanted to make sure your brother didn't make an unwanted appearance in your bedroom or anything, since I know how much you hate him—plus, Hunk _really_ wanted to go to that cooking competition and I figured that if I'm with you, then I'm _technically_ with a bodyguard and he's free to live out his dream, so everyone wins, right?!"

Keith chuckled, still half-asleep. "You're cute when you ramble," he muttered.

Lance stared at him, eyes wide.

Keith ignored it. He was too tired to deal with all of this. Instead, he grabbed Lance's hand and put it back into his hair. "Keep doing that," he demanded. "It felt good."

Lance hesitated for a moment, but then Keith felt fingers start running through his hair again. He sighed and relaxed against the warm body beside him.

He almost missed Lance's incredulous whisper, "Oh my God, you're purring," before he drifted back off to sleep.

* * *

He awoke to more fire in the pit of his stomach, and all of his limbs feeling like they were made of lead. Plus, Lance was no longer petting him or humming a lullaby. Instead, Keith heard a low mutter and saw an annoying blue glow through his eyelids. He cracked an eye open to see Lance sitting nearby, muttering to himself and waving his hands. His cheek markings were glowing.

"You're not cursing me, are you?" Keith grumbled.

Lance jumped and looked at him. "You're awake! You want some water?"

"Yeah," Keith said, struggling to sit up. _Ugh, he felt awful! Was this really gonna be a regular thing?!_

"About every six months, according to Shiro," Lance chuckled, handing him a glass.

Keith paled. "I said that out loud?!"

"Yeah, you're pretty talkative when you're in heat," Lance grinned, resting his chin on his hands.

Keith glared. "It's not a—"

"A heat, a rut, whatever," Lance said carelessly. He gave Keith a sideways glance. "Shiro seemed surprised it happened at all, and he says he'll be by later to check on you. Haven't you talked with someone before about this?"

"There was nothing to talk about," Keith said, finishing his water. "It's never happened before. Not all half-breeds have the same… reproductive cycle as pure Galra, and I guess they figured I didn't get it." He handed the glass back to Lance and flopped back down on his bed. "Though, if this is how most Galra reproduce, it's a wonder they aren't all extinct. I have _never_ felt less sexy in my life." His whole body hurt, he had a fever, and he felt like he was going to throw up at any minute…

Lance snickered. "Yeah, you don't look so hot. I mean—well, you look _hot_, but sweaty-hot, not sexy-hot."

"Thanks," Keith said dryly. "Let's just stop talking about how _hot_ I am." Lance blushed and looked away and it was Keith's turn to laugh. "What were you doing earlier?" he asked, gesturing to Lance's cheek markings, which were still glowing blue in the darkness of the room.

"Just practicing," Lance said, touching them and smiling fondly. "Allura promised to work on spellcasting with me later this week."

"You two are so close," Keith murmured. "Lucky."

"You sound jealous, Keithy-boy."

"Mmm," Keith agreed, rubbing his face and wondering if the room would ever stop spinning. "I dunno if you've noticed, but Lotor and I don't have _quite_ the same relationship that you and Allura do."

"Yeah," Lance drawled, relaxing against Keith's bed and providing that blessed, blessed warmth again, "I've never been able to figure that out. You guys really can't stand each other, huh?"

"It's how we were raised," Keith said, curling up against the other boy's back. _Ahh, this felt so good._ "Lotor's always been the undisputed heir, but I do have a small claim to the throne because I'm the emperor's son. Lotor's always hated me for that, no matter that the empire would never accept me. Though," he gave a small laugh, "now that I've presented, the council may reconsider and determine I'm Galra enough to take the throne. _That'll_ be fun."

"They won't recall you, will they?" Lance asked, grabbing his hand and looking anxious.

"Doubt it," Keith mumbled sleepily. After all, he was still only the son of a slave. He peeked an eye open at Lance. "Why? Would you miss me, your grace?" he teased.

Lance blushed bright red and snatched his hand away again. "Course not!" he stammered. "I—I just wanna make sure nothing's gonna get in the way of Allura taking the throne, that's all! I mean, if _you_ took over, then something would've happened to _Lotor_, and that means something probably would've happened to _Allura_, and you think _you're_ not ready to rule, can you imagine what would happen if they put ME in charge?!"

Keith cackled. "We'd burn the universe to the ground."

"Exactly! …Hey!"

Keith just gave him a cheeky grin. "Let's do it."

Lance blinked in surprise, and then laughed. "I think I like it when you're in heat, Keithy. You're much more fun—EE-OW!" he yelped when Keith grabbed his collar and pulled him down so they were face-to-face, inches apart.

"I told you," Keith growled, "it's not a _heat_."

"Okay, okay!" Lance agreed quickly, hands up to show he was no threat. "Not a heat. Got it!"

Keith studied him, still growling. Lance's eyes were wide and—had they always been so blue? Plus, he smelled _amazing_. Keith would always hate Lance's many lotions and scrubs, and he absolutely loathed that the prince's care routine took _way too much time_, but he had to admit, Lance's particular smell was really doing it for him right now.

And his skin—especially his lips—looked so soft….

Keith pulled him down the rest of the way and captured his lips with his own.

Lance made a strangled, confused sound and his arms were probably flailing wildly, but Keith didn't know or care. He'd closed his eyes to enjoy the softness and the warmth flooding from the other boy, but oh, the taste! Warmth, sweetness, and something just the right kind of tangy. And Lance wasn't actually trying to get away or anything… In fact, he made another, softer, confused noise, and then he relaxed against Keith, kissing him back.

Keith felt a jolt of electricity jolt down his spine, his heart skipping a beat as he realized… _he was kissing Lance! And Lance was kissing him back! And he could totally understand why Lance was making those little contented sighs, because this felt so good! So right!_

_IwantIwantIwant…._

He shifted his grip on Lance's collar, reaching around to bury his hand in the prince's hair instead. Lance gave a very gratifying groan (which Keith decided he liked quite a bit) and shifted so it was easier to kiss him. They both decided to deepen the kiss at the same time, and Keith could scarcely believe the needy moan that escaped his own throat. He could feel Lance grin into their kiss and nipped at his lips a bit to teach him his place.

_Now, if only he could get rid of these cumbersome clothes and—oh, Lance's pointed little Altean ears were softer than expected—_

Altean.

Altean _prince_.

Lance was an Altean prince.

_The_ prince Keith was sworn to protect and serve.

He was about to—_QUIZNAK!_

Keith pushed against Lance, just enough to break their kiss.

"Lance," he gasped, very aware of how ragged he sounded right now. "You—you need to leave."

"But—"

"Lance," he groaned, as the heat in his belly protested by flaring. Apparently, all his previous pain had managed to focus right where he needed it the least_! Not helping! Not helping!_ He had to get the other boy out of this room. Now. "_Please_."

Either Lance heard the desperation in his voice or he realized that Keith wasn't breathing in an effort not to smell the prince and go crazy again, but either way he got up and backed away. His eyes—his beautiful, bright blue eyes—shone with confusion, and Keith groaned again.

"I _can't_," he said, pleading with the other boy to understand. "You're my _job_! And I'm _not_ normal right now, you can't—"

"Yeah, I get it," Lance said coolly. "I hope you feel better soon, mullet." With that, he turned and left.

Keith curled up on his tiny bed and tried not to sob as the beast inside him raged at having been denied what it wanted. It wanted to call the other boy back; kiss all that anger and confusion away—But no matter how much _he_ might want it, or how much Lance might _think_ he wanted it, there were _rules_, dammit!

Rule Number One: don't sleep with your charge.

Friendship was fine, it was even encouraged. Plenty of bodyguards developed bonds with the ones they protected. But friendship was one thing. Anything more could get them both in trouble. Especially him. He was the disposable one. The screw up.

Frustrated, Keith punched his pillow and screamed into his mattress.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It took two more days for the accursed heat—or rut or whatever, Keith had already decided he hated it—to run its course. That was two days of pain and longing and _loneliness_—Lance didn't make another appearance, and when Shiro was able to come see him, he kept his visits short because Keith got more and more snappy as the days went by.

Finally, he was able to resume his duties, with no small amount of relief. (And maybe it was just his imagination, but Hunk looked relieved too. Apparently, Lance had been extra snippy as well.) To his surprise, Lance actually gave him the silent treatment for a whole day, even after Keith tried to apologize for what had happened.

The day after that, he went to the prince's chambers, fully intending to clear the air. Nothing major, he could do this. He just had to explain that he hadn't been in his right mind, and nothing they'd said or done should be—_Wait, where was Lance?_

He wasn't in his room.

He wasn't in any of his usual haunts in the castle.

"Lance?"

Keith was starting to get nervous. _Had Lance actually been kidnapped? _During his time here, he'd been led to believe that nobody hated the royal family and his job was purely for ceremony! Surely—

"Hey, Keith," Shiro called cheerfully, strolling down the halls with another ambassador. Keith wasn't sure if their name was really Pidge or something else, he couldn't figure this person out. (But they were from Olkarion, so maybe that was the point? The Olkari did love their puzzles….) "I thought you were with Lance."

"I'm _looking_ for Lance," Keith corrected. "Have you seen him?"

The two ambassadors shared an 'eek' look.

"He was heading for the space port," Pidge said. "Said he was meeting you there."

"Oh, quiznak." Keith took off running. Once he got to the space port, he searched every passenger vehicle he could find, praying that Lance hadn't gotten a note from somebody claiming to be Keith so they could kidnap him and—_wait, weren't those the new prototypes King Alfor was designing?_

Keith paused in his search to look more carefully. _Why was the blue one activated?_

Blue just happened to be Lance's favorite color….

He raced over and entered the giant blue lion (Alfor had said they were a tribute to some kind of ancient Altean lion god or something) just before the jaw snapped shut. Even though Keith had never been in a ship like this before, he somehow knew exactly where to go.

Sure enough, there was Lance, sitting in the pilot's seat.

"WHAT do you think you are doing?!" Keith snapped, storming up behind him.

Lance looked surprised to see him. "Aww, Blue, why'd you let _him_ in?"

"Are you talking to the ship?!"

"Of course," Lance said, stroking the side of the chair lovingly. "My pretty girl is very sensitive, you know. Not _everybody_ sees me as 'just their job.'"

Keith facepalmed. "We're not even going to delve into everything that's wrong with that statement—just, get up, we're leaving."

"No way!" Lance said, settling himself deeper into the seat. "I was just getting a feel for her!" He grabbed the controls.

"Lance, this is a _prototype_ that your father has been working on for _decaphoebs_!" Keith pointed out. "Even _if_ he gave you permission to fly it, which he _won't_, it's not equipped for—"

The rest of his statement was cut off by a loud roar, and then Keith was forced to grab onto the back of Lance's chair as the lion blasted off. Lance whooped with excitement as the space port dwindled away behind them. With so many loops and swoops, even without gravity, Keith was starting to get a little dizzy.

"You are the _worst pilot ever!"_ he yelled, his teeth jarring together as Lance grazed yet another asteroid. "Did you even take a class on how to fly one of these things?!"

"Of course not!" Lance shouted back, not an inch of remorse in his tone. "As you said, they're prototypes! And it's almost like it's on autopilot—"

"AUTOPILOT AROUND THAT MOON, THEN!"

"WHOOPS!" The Blue Lion lurched out of the way at the very last second. "Oof, that could've been bad."

"BAD?! YOU ALMOST FLATTENED US!"

"Relax, Keithy! Has anyone ever told you you're a very uptight kinda guy?" Lance teased, glancing up at Keith from where he still had a firm grip on the controls. "Hey, I know! Let's take this baby to the Space Mall!"

"La-ance," Keith groaned, but there was nothing he could do. Blue didn't respond when he tried to wrench the controls away from Lance. And that was when he remembered King Alfor's speech about how these ships would choose their own pilots: if you could get it to start, you could have it. But he didn't think the king meant for his son to take the thing joyriding! Ugh, maybe he could spin this as some sort of training exercise?!

And secondly, he was kind of offended that Lance still considered him _uptight_. He'd loosened up a lot since he'd come to live on Altea! Didn't Lance remember the Klanmüirls? Or the narwhals? None of the other Galra Commanders he knew would ever stand for that sort of thing!

The next thing he knew, they were actually at the Space Mall and Lance was getting out. _Great. How was this his life?_ The good part was, they didn't need to lock anything, because the Blue Lion put up a particle barrier as soon as they were clear, the bad part was… well, Lance in a space mall was like a kid in a candy store.

He wanted to go _everywhere_. At light speed.

After the fifth time Lance ran away from him, though, Keith was starting to sense a pattern: light speed was only being used to get away from his bodyguard. He quickly grabbed the prince in the hallway before he could dart off again.

"Look, I get that you're mad at me—" he started.

"What?! _Mad_ at you? Why, _in all the cosmos_, would I be _mad_ at you, Keithy?!" Lance said, loudly and sarcastically.

Keith felt his eye twitch. "Can we not do this in public, please?" he asked quietly.

"Why not? Am I making you uncomfortable? Am I—" To Keith's surprise, Lance cut himself off with a deep breath and a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry. I just thought…." He trailed off with another sigh.

"You just thought what?" Keith asked, curious at the way Lance was blushing. _No, surely not…._

"Nevermind," Lance said. He spotted something over Keith's shoulder. "WHAT is THAT?" he exclaimed, pointing. Keith turned to look, only to find himself being pulled into a shop that sold all kinds of things. Knick-knacks, appliances, you name it. And it all came from—

"Earth?!" he exclaimed, as the salesman tried to get them interested in a strange-looking water fountain that doubled as a chair. "All of this comes from _Earth_?" He was suddenly much more interested in the merchandise. And, oh man, they HAD to get Shiro something!

Lance, meanwhile, was enamored with a large, benign-looking animal that stared out at them peacefully and occasionally said, "Moo."

"I love her!" he squealed, hugging the animal. "I'm going to take her, and keep her, and hug her, and—"

"That there is a Kaltenecker," the salesman said proudly. "One free with every purchase!"

Lance's eyes gleamed.

"You can get ONE!" Keith said quickly, before Lance could buy out the whole store. Lance pouted, but Keith stood firm. "One for now," he negotiated. "Just to make sure you can take care of her and she doesn't come with any weird… surprises."

After a bit more whining, Lance agreed, and for their purchase, they bought Shiro a rectangle with some weird drawings on it that the salesman insisted was an entertainment box. (Keith didn't see how such a thing would be entertaining, but maybe Shiro would know how to work it.)

Then, Lance was _starving_, and they _had_ to get some food. Keith agreed, but he didn't think Kaltenecker enjoyed Lance's attempts to serve her whatever Vrepit Sal's had given them. He also had no idea what she _was_ chewing on….

"Is that a _cow_?" they heard a familiar voice exclaim. Keith and Lance looked over, and sure enough, there was Shiro, heading straight for them. Followed closely by Pidge and an irate-looking Hunk.

"She's my new Kaltenecker!" Lance said proudly.

"Kaltenecker?" Shiro repeated, looking at Keith.

"I don't know," he said, throwing his hands up helplessly. "It doesn't seem like it's gonna eat him, so I figured it'd be okay."

Shiro at least had the decency to laugh into his hand.

"Oh man," Hunk said, also examining the creature, "I dunno how this is gonna do in the Klanmüirl enclosure, but hey, I'm sure we'll work something out." He turned to Lance. "So, bad news, your dad says you're grounded."

"Awww," Lance groaned.

"And good news, he's so stoked you got a Lion running, it's probably not gonna be for long," Hunk continued.

"Yes!" Lance fist-pumped.

"More good news, you activating a Lion seems to have kicked them all into gear, because the Yellow one chose me, and Green chose Pidge here."

Beside him, Pidge waved absently, looking more interested in the little box they'd gotten for Shiro.

"REALLY?" Lance looked delighted.

"Yeah, so as soon as you get home, we're gonna have to do a bunch of tests and stuff, but until then, more bad news…," Hunk bit his lip and looked uncertain. "You guys didn't just happen to bring Allura with you, did you? 'Cause nobody can find her or Lotor anywhere."

Lance sat straight up. "Allura's missing?!"

"I'm sure it's nothing," Hunk said, waving his hand dismissively. "More importantly, what the heck are you guys eating? Is that even food?!" He examined their lunch with expressions that ranged from "interested" to "horrified."

Lance and Keith exchange a glance that needed no words. Their siblings weren't the type to just go off without any warnings to anybody, that was _their_ MO. Allura and Lotor were too… responsible. Whatever had happened….

"You're right, Hunk," Lance said, quickly. "Let's get some real food back at the castle! I wanna see who else gets a Lion. You want one, Keithy? You know you do!" he teased.

"No, I've got my hands full with _you_," Keith grumbled. (_Yes, he did. He _really_ did. He'd seen how quickly and effortlessly Blue had responded to Lance's handling and he was certain he could do better…. Oh, how he wanted a chance!)_

"How about you, Shiro?" Lance was asking, talking fast to cover up his nervousness about his sister's disappearance.

"I thought I felt something from the Black one," Shiro admitted, still absently petting Kaltenecker. "But King Alfor assured me it wouldn't move until the others were paired off. Something about it being the leader."

"Cool! Well, lead on, Captain, Sir!"

"Ha ha, Lance," Shiro said dryly, as they all headed back towards the entrance. "Tell me, what are you going to do with a cow, anyway?"

"I dunno," Lance said, giving it another hug. "What do you usually do with cows?"

"I could teach you how to milk it."

"Really?! What's that?"

Shiro's explanation left Keith a little weirded out, but Lance seemed eager enough to try. Not that he got much of a chance. After flying the three Lions back to Altea, they were greeted by an excited crowd in the Lions' hangar at the space port, all of them eager to try for the remaining two. Black and Red's shields remained up, however, even when Lance tried to push his way to the front of the crowd.

Keith, already nervous about potential assassins in this crowd, got the signal from Alfor to get his son out of there, and quickly pulled Lance away. It didn't matter if the prince was complaining that he could hold his own. Nor did it matter that Hunk and Pidge had carefully separated themselves already to try to take control of this mess. Even the fact that Keith could hear a low rumbling in the back of his brain that sounded like purring when he looked at the Red Lion… his first and only priority was Lance's safety. Altea had already lost its heir today, they didn't need to lose the spare too.

Fortunately, the king and queen joined them in Lance's room soon after, before Keith and Shiro ran out of ways to keep him distracted. Queen Melenor ran straight to Lance and threw her arms around him, sobbing. That was the first indication they'd gotten that something was truly wrong.

"We thought maybe Lance had convinced Allura to take him with her," Alfor said, looking pale and shaken. He laid a heavy hand on Keith's shoulder. "Thank you for always taking such good care of my son."

"Sir?" he said, unable to keep his questioning tone to himself.

"What's going on?" Lance asked, his voice wavering as he started to panic. "Where's Allura? Mom?! Dad?!"

"All we found was a note!" Queen Melenor burst into tears again and hugged Lance even tighter.

"It seems she and Prince Lotor have spent their time together—when they were supposed to be courting—researching how to get to Oriande," Alfor said, regretfully shaking his head.

"_Oriande_?" Lance yelped. "But that's—that's a myth!" Keith could tell: now Lance was truly panicking. "And, even if it wasn't, all the stories say it's a… a…."

"A one-way journey," Alfor finished for him. "Which is why, if we don't find them soon, we may have to declare your sister missing… indefinitely."

"NO!" Lance cried, wrenching himself away from his mother. Keith quickly caught him in his arms—not tight enough to cage, just enough to ground him—and led him over to a small padded bench nearby. Lance sat, still shaking his head in denial but not trying to get away from Keith. "No, no, no… there's has to be way—the Lions! Dad, could we use the Lions to get to her?!"

"We don't even know which way they've gone," Alfor reminded him sadly. "I, too, looked for Oriande in my youth, but I never even came close. I finally forced myself to abandon the hunt when your mother became pregnant. And now, I—" the poor king swallowed and looked away, "I regret every bedtime story I ever told you two about that place."

Both Lance and Queen Melenor hurried to reassure their king that, no, none of this was his fault. They loved him and they'd get through this as a family. Meanwhile, Keith stood off to the side, watching silently.

Lotor. Lotor was missing too, but instead of being anxious or worried about him, all Keith could think was_, 'Dammit, brother! You're going to cost us the alliance! What were you thinking?!'_

_Was that normal? Surely, he should be upset, right? Crying and worried about his family like Lance? Why—why wasn't he?_

He heard Shiro come up behind him and looked over when he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Shiro asked.

Keith thought about it for a moment. "I'm worried about Allura," he finally confessed. "And I'm a little annoyed at Lotor. I'm sure he talked her into it, after all. He's been obsessed with Altean lore ever since we were kids." He looked at his friend. "Is that…? Shouldn't I be worried, or panicking, or something? I mean—" Keith faltered. "He's my brother! I've always been loyal, to him and the Empire, but…. Is there something wrong with me?"

"I doubt it," Shiro said, the knowing smile back on his face. "Think about it. If it was _Lance_ who was missing, what would you do?"

"I'd pull out all the stops to find him immediately," Keith said, not even having to think about it. "I'd use every resource I had until I found him. No matter how long it took." His chest constricted painfully just thinking about a scenario like that.

Shiro was giving him that look that said he was almost there in getting the correct answer; he just needed to dig a little deeper. Keith thought about it.

"But… that's just because he's my responsibility, isn't it?" he asked, almost desperately. "It doesn't mean anything…."

Shiro gave him a much softer smile, his eyes twinkling with laughter. "I didn't say anything about _that_," he pointed out. "But fine, if you want to play that game, imagine if Lance _wasn't_ your responsibility. Would you still feel the same?"

"I—I don't know!" Keith exclaimed, much too loudly. It caught the attention of the royal family, who realized the two were still in the room with them.

"Think about it," Shiro whispered, as King Alfor made his way over to them.

"Ah, Prince Keithyr," he said uneasily. Keith winced. _Oh, right. Now that Lotor was gone, he was expected to take on ambassador duties for the Empire, wasn't he? This was gonna get awkward._ "Our most humble apologies and deepest condolences go out to you and the Empire as well. Forgive me my momentary lapse in protocol—"

_Yep. Super awkward._

"Please, your majesty," he said, holding up a hand to forestall any further 'niceties.' "You don't ever need to apologize to me. Officially, I can't apologize to you either, but—" he sighed, "_unofficially_, I want to kick my brother in the…." He trailed off with a vague handwave, very aware that it was against protocol to swear in front of the local monarch.

"Quiznak?" King Alfor finished for him with a small smile.

Keith shrugged helplessly_. Yeah. That. Thank God the Alteans had come up with such an all-inclusive word._

"I'll need to get ahold of the Emperor, to see how he wants to handle all of this…." _Ugh, his list of responsibilities had just grown exponentially!_

"Yes, I'll need to make a statement as well…," King Alfor trailed off, no doubt making his own list of new duties in the light of this tragedy.

Keith only half-paid attention, he kept glancing at Lance. For any other disaster, he'd be over there, making sure the prince was comfortable and didn't do anything stupid… maybe offer him a friendly shoulder to cry on, or a bowl of his favorite comfort food. Now, all he could do was watch as Lance buried his face in his hands, trying to stifle his sobs.

And Keith hated it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Two weeks had gone by. Two weeks since Blue had chosen Prince Lanceon as her pilot (the local populace was going with the term Paladin, but Keith wasn't sure how he felt about that). Two weeks since Princess Allura and Prince Lotor had gone missing on some secret trip to a magical world.

Two weeks since Keith had been forced out of being a bodyguard and thrust into the position of Ambassador, trying to fill his brother's role, and only barely able to stumble along with Shiro's help.

No word from Allura or Lotor. They hadn't attempted to make contact with Altea, or tell anyone anything; not even which direction they'd gone. They didn't know if Allura had gone willingly, if Lotor had kidnapped her, or if they both had been kidnapped by someone else. Understandably, the royal family was a bit stressed.

Announcements had been made. The citizens had been given some version of the truth that Keith hadn't even bothered to keep track of; if anyone asked him what happened, he was just going to say he didn't know and move on.

But now, now was the moment he'd been both dreading and looking forward to: he had to see Emperor Zarkon. Not in person, of course, he didn't dare leave Altea that long without an ambassador (especially in this situation), but the holograms were imposing enough. Hopefully, his father would simply appoint a new ambassador and let Keith go back to his old job, but….

"Prince Keithyr. Were you responsible?" Zarkon's voice rumbled from his throne. Even though it was just a hologram in an empty room, Keith could feel his father's fury.

"No, your majesty," Keith said simply, keeping his head bowed, even as he winced. Lotor and Zarkon had never been close, but Zarkon had valued Lotor enough as his Heir to be righteously angry. He was too honest to claim he loved either of his sons, but nobody dared to attack something the Emperor had claimed as 'his.' So, even though the rest of the Empire would see Lotor's assassination by Keith as simply a show of power, Keith knew better than to try to claim he'd had something to do with his brother's disappearance.

_He was gonna have a hard enough time getting out of this alive as it was…._

Impassioned speeches about his own innocence, declaring how much he loved Prince Lotor when they both knew it was a lie… these things would gain him nothing from the Emperor except disgust and more suspicion. Instead, he slowly raised his eyes to meet his father's.

"The crown prince and I had our differences, but he was no threat to me, sire," Keith said, keeping his voice even and calm. "I had no reason to strike him down. Nor was I a threat to him. Was that not the reasoning behind my current post? To get me out of the way?"

Zarkon growled a bit at his impudence. The official reason was to promote the alliance between Daibazaal and Altea, but again, everyone knew the truth.

"This Altean prince," the Emperor said next, his tone considering, "what do you make of him?"

_Oh, quiznak!_

"Prince Lanceon is quick and clever," Keith said immediately. "He's creative in times of crisis and is surrounded by friends and advisors who would gladly give their lives to protect him."

_Please, father, please don't be thinking about what I think you're thinking about—we don't need a war—anything but that!_

"That would include you, I assume?"

Keith froze, too stunned to reply.

Zarkon snorted in derisive laughter. "I should've known. You were always too soft. Even as a child."

Keith remained silent.

"My informants tell me you've presented—"

"I'm an omega," Keith said quickly, daring to interrupt his father this once. If it meant not being dragged back to Daibazaal and forced to become the new Heir, he'd take the stigma that went with that label and be grateful. Nobody on Altea would care, anyway.

Zarkon, of course, was displeased. "Of course you are," he spat. Keith could imagine how his father felt about that. Lotor had never presented, and now Keith….

Keith exited the room a few minutes later, his hands still trembling a bit from the experience, but otherwise okay. King Alfor was just down the hallway, waiting for him.

Keith swallowed before telling him the news. "Emperor Zarkon choses to withhold his judgement of the incident with Prince Lotor and Princess Allura until a more thorough investigation can be done," he said, proud that his voice didn't tremble anymore when he had to deliver official news. Alfor nodded. They'd been expecting that.

"He will also be sending another, more experienced, ambassador to continue to negotiate relations with Altea," he added, unable to keep the relief out of his voice. "I know Thace, he's a good man. You shouldn't have any problems with him, your majesty." Alfor chuckled and clapped him on the back. He'd been so patient with Keith these past few weeks, so kind and caring, even with his own loss, that Keith hated the next words that came out of his mouth.

"Sendak has been named Heir," he said, watching as the king went pale. They both knew what _that_ meant. Officially or not, the Galra Empire had basically just declared war. "I've been disowned, but… he'll probably be after me by the end of the next movement." _Sendak wasn't really known for being merciful, or even strategic. If he thought something was in his way, he destroyed it._ "Don't worry," he assured King Alfor, "I'll be gone long before—"

"You'll do no such thing, my boy," Alfor said, leveling him with an even stare. "I have no doubt Sendak would attack us whether you were here or not, and I will not send you off to face him alone. Besides, my son would never forgive me if I made you leave." He gave Keith a smile. "I know you don't see it, but you've been good for him. Can I count on you to stay with him now?"

"I stand with Altea, sire," Keith said solemnly, giving the king a bow. It was partially to hide his own shining eyes. _All he'd ever wanted was to find a place and a family, and here it was. He'd been gifted with such unquestionable loyalty and acceptance…._ He had to swallow down a sob. Alfor gave him a little smile, not unlike the ones Shiro had been giving him lately, and nodded him down the hallway towards Lance's room.

Keith was very willing to go (he hadn't had a proper conversation with Lance in forever), but there was something he had to do first. Red had been getting anxious in the back of his mind.

* * *

In no time at all, he was knocking on Lance's door, and opening it as soon as he heard someone tell him to enter. Shiro stood from where he was sitting with Lance on the edge of his bed, relaxing only when Keith gave him a small smile.

"Hey," he called softly.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Lance asked, obviously still pouting. "Don't you have big 'ambassador duties' to do? Not that it ever stopped _Shiro_ from visiting me…," he muttered.

"Sorry," Keith sighed. "But, in my defense, we aren't trying to stop _Earth_ from attacking."

"C'mon, Lance," he heard Shiro murmur, "he's trying."

"Fine. Fine. When do you leave, Mullet?"

Keith studied his former charge. Lance was sullen and sulking, and had been ever since Allura had gone missing. Ever since… he and Keith had been separated.

"I'm here to deliver a message," he said casually, grabbing the item off his belt. He tossed it to Shiro. "Black sends her regards," he grinned, "and would like it very much if you'd visit her again, just to make everything official."

In their heads, all of them heard Black roar her affirmative. Shiro's jaw dropped, and he turned the bayard over in his hand, studying it with wonder.

"But then, who—?"

Keith held up his own bayard.

"YOU!" Lance exclaimed, standing up and pointing at Keith accusingly. "_You_ got Red?! But—but, you're leaving! You're gonna go off and be Zarkon's right hand while he pulverizes us into dust and…!" He trailed off when he realized that Keith was raising an eyebrow and looking at him like he'd just said something Extremely Stupid.

Keith didn't look away. "Shiro," he said quietly. "You probably shouldn't keep the giant, sentient war machine waiting."

"R-right," Shiro said, catching on quickly, "if you two will just excuse me…." He exited, leaving the two of them alone.

Keith waited until the door closed behind him to make eye contact with Lance again. He didn't know what expression was on his face, but it couldn't have been good, because the prince gulped and took a step backwards.

"_What part_ of our interactions together made you believe I wanted to go back to _Daibazaal_ to attack you?" he growled, pacing forward.

Lance was sweating, but he stood his ground now. "Our-our very first one!" he stammered. "You said you wanted Lotor and Allura to get together so you could go home!"

Keith blinked. _Had he? Yeah, that sounded like something he would've said._ "I meant home to the Blades," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I grew up with them. They—they're an organization dedicated to maintaining peace in the universe—and they're probably gonna have to go underground now; Sendak always hated them—but anyways, they never would've attacked Altea."

"Oh," Lance also seemed to be at a loss for what to say. Yeah, they really needed to work on their communication skills. "Well, you've never made any secret about how much you hated me—"

"Lance—," Keith was trying not to give into the urge to just take the other boy and shake him, but it was growing harder by the moment. Instead, he took a closer look at the prince. "When was the last time you did your skin care routine, your grace?" he asked, smirking.

"What?! My sister is missing, who has time for—wait, why are you looking at me like that?!" Lance exclaimed. He felt around his face. "Oh God, I don't have a pimple, do I? Keith, _what did you see?!"_

"Oh, nothing…."

Lance obviously didn't believe him, because he rushed into the bathroom, muttering about his perfect skin. Keith followed him in, already working on the next part of his plan as Lance examined his skin closely in the mirror.

"I don't see—maybe there—hey, Keithy-boy, where did you—" Lance turned to Keith at just the right moment for Keith to smear a good-sized glob of the prince's favorite facial cream all over his cheeks. Lance immediately flailed backwards with an indignant squawk, his eyes round.

Keith snickered. "C'mon, Lance," he teased, grabbing more of the goop, "let's get you exfoliated!"

Lance yelped and ran for it as his former bodyguard chased him all over his room, intent on getting him covered with as much of the pungent cream as he could. They only called it off when they started getting it on his clothes too; the prince started wailing about cleaning costs, which Keith didn't want to think about. He even relented enough to let Lance take a shower.

By the time the prince came out again, the dark circles under his eyes had all but disappeared and that familiar spark of laughter was back on his face. Keith smiled in satisfaction as Lance flopped onto his back on the bed beside him, looking up to grin at his former bodyguard.

"Feel better?" Keith asked smugly.

Lance laughed. "Yeah," he admitted. "God, I missed you, Mullet," he said, reaching up to brush a stray hair out of Keith's face.

They both froze when they realized how intimate this must look. Even this simple touch was far more than they usually did (not including severe cases of being-out-of-one's-mind-with-pheromones) but…

_Oh, what the hell,_ Keith decided, leaning into Lance's hand and closing his eyes. He'd already been disowned. He wasn't technically the prince's bodyguard anymore. And he'd been giving Shiro's advice some thought….

_He liked it when Lance touched him—softly, slowly—like this._

_He'd certainly enjoyed that kiss before. And he wasn't even sure he could totally blame the pheromones for that._

_Could he have this? If only for a moment?_

"Do you remember when Allura made us dress up in her dresses?" Keith asked quietly.

Lance laughed lightly. "You looked really good in the purple one!"

"And _you_ were determined to wear high heels."

They both laughed at that. Lance's sad smile had brightened somewhat.

"Yeah, good times," he muttered. "But I was thinking of a different memory…."

"Oh? Which one?" Keith asked. To his surprise, Lance flushed.

_Oh. Huh. I don't think he meant to say that out loud…._

_Now I really wanna know._

"Lance?" Keith prompted. Lance didn't reply, but his eyes flickered to Keith's lips for an instant, and Keith just _knew_.

_After all, it wasn't like _he_ hadn't been thinking about that kiss too…._ Unconsciously, he licked his lips, realizing halfway through that Lance was still following the movement with his eyes. He drew in a deep breath. _Okay,_ he reminded himself, _you can do this. Even if you've been disowned and you're not technically breaking any rules, you two still have to work together and the last thing you want to do is make him feel uncomfortable. So—_

To his surprise, Lance suddenly rolled away from him to sit up on the bed, his eyes bright with determination.

"Look, don't get mad," he said, looking like he was working himself up to something as well, "I just—I need to see something—just to try it—and then we can go back to… whatever it is we have. I just—" He slid forward and Keith froze, partially to keep himself from throwing Lance to the floor in a defensive move and partially… because Lance was cupping his face with both hands and kissing him as desperately as he had the other night.

Oh.

_Oh._

Keith balled his hands into fists on his thighs to keep himself from grabbing the prince and taking control of the kiss. But it was hard, especially when Lance brushed his tongue across lips, obviously begging for entrance. Keith groaned and granted it, unable to keep himself from responding anymore.

And Lance's little sigh of happiness when he finally started kissing him back? Keith was gonna have to find more ways to draw _that_ particular noise out.

_To Hell with protocol and responsibilities, if Lance was actually on board with this, that changed everything! I wouldn't have to lie and say that nothing had to change, that it was just pheromones and would never happen again—oh, I want, I want, I WANT…._

"Lance," he gasped against the other boy's lips, even though Lance was enthusiastically still trying to kiss him, "are you sure?!" Lance paused, looking at him with pupils blown wide. "You're sure you want this?"

"Are you kidding me? Yes!" Lance exclaimed. "Have I _not_ been kissing you for the past—Mmph!"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off when Keith lunged forward, finally allowing himself to wrap his arms around Lance and flip them both, so that Lance landed on his back in the middle of the bed. Lance let out a breathless squeak at their change in positions, but gladly reached up to meet him when Keith bent down to claim his lips again.

_Oh God, oh God, just when he thought his life couldn't possibly get any better, he was _actually_ allowed to have this?! Every glance, every suppressed want, _every single time_ he'd put duty over desire—now he could feel Lance beneath him, warm and sweet and soft, but not completely soft, Lance was still all angles and burgeoning muscles and Keith wouldn't have it any other way—_

"Hey, Lance, do you—OH MY GOD, MY EYES!" they heard Hunk screaming over by the door. "KEITH! How could yo—"

"I'm off-duty," Keith deadpanned from where he remained on top of Lance, choking back his laughter at the indignant expression on the other guard's face.

"Oh, for—If you're OFF-duty, that means I'm ON duty, which means _I_ have to protect him from people like you!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Good luck?" Keith said, raising an eyebrow. Hunk couldn't take him in a fight and he knew it.

"YOU—Get _off_. The. Prince," Hunk growled, pointing an accusing finger at the former bodyguard.

"Nooooo," Lance wailed before Keith could tease their friend again. He wrapped his arms around Keith's neck. "Let me be ravished, Hunk! Go away!"

"Ugh, LANCE!"

"You heard the prince," Keith said smugly. "Orders are orders." He sighed in mock-exasperation. "Work, work work…."

Lance grinned up at him. "That's right. Get back to work."

"As you wish, your grace," Keith murmured, leaning in to brush his lips down Lance's neck. Lance shivered in delight.

"Guys? Seriously?! I can't watch this! Like, I'm pretty sure I'm not legally allowed," Hunk moaned. "Besides, Shiro's calling a team meeting, so if you two could keep it together for another varga or so…."

Keith and Lance both grumbled at that, but they started to get up anyway.

"Oh, thank God," Hunk muttered, exiting and probably still bemoaning his current situation. Obviously, he trusted them enough to follow—which was valid. They could all feel the pull from the Lions, excited and eager to finally fly together for the first time….

"Hey," Lance said, pulling on Keith's arm before he could completely get off the bed. "We're still good, right? This isn't gonna… get weird?"

"It's going to get _very_ weird," Keith informed him solemnly. "In fact, it's been weird ever since I got here, so why would we stop now? Only _now_," he continued, leaning his forehead against Lance's, "we are going to fly super cool ships into battle—and watch Shiro get some vindictive pleasure out of smashing Sendak's squadron to bits—and then, we're going to find _my_ idiot brother and your sister and put them back on the throne where they belong—because I was _not_ kidding, we'd—"

"We'd burn the universe to the ground," Lance finished, laughing softly.

"Exactly."

"And after that?" Lance asked, looking at him with hope shining in those big, blue eyes.

"And then," Keith paused, thinking for a moment. "How did you put it? I'm going to take you—" he grabbed Lance around the middle and pulled him closer, "—and keep you—" he tightened his grip, "—and hug you—" he tickled Lance's sides, right in the sensitive spot he knew was there, and Lance cracked up.

"Did you just compare me to a Kaltenecker?!" he howled.

"—and completely obliterate you when it comes to flying our Lions—"

"HEY!" Now Lance was trying to squirm away from him for real. "YOU WILL NOT!"

"That sounds like a challenge, your grace," Keith purred, standing up and holding out a hand to Lance.

Lance grabbed it instantly. "Challenge accepted!" he declared. "Race you to the hanger!"

* * *

_Sometime later_:

Shiro facepalmed. "Did you two just face-plant those Lions into the sand?!"

"Lance started it!"

"I did not!"

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"


End file.
